Projected climate effects on soil workability and trafficability determine the feasibility of converting permanent grassland to arable land

Summary

Adapting to changes in climate and in consumer demand for commodities will force us to diversify land uses from the current status. Livestock grazing systems are dominant agricultural practices in the western regions of the British Isles. It has been suggested that grasslands in the region could be converted to other land uses, e.g. growing of cereal crops. We hypothesized that soil workability and trafficability would be important factors determining the feasibility and environmental impact of such conversion. Objectives were 1) to investigate the impacts of weather conditions under the current climate on agronomic management and crop yield of winter wheat using the SPACSYS model; and 2) to assess potential impacts of the land use conversion (grassland converted into arable land) on the e